WILMINGTON, Mass. — More than a half hour before the rest of his Boston Bruins teammates took the Ristuccia Arena ice for their full practice this morning, defenseman Andrew Ference continued on his road to a return from his undisclosed injury by working out on the ice.

For the better part of the session, Ference was only accompanied by strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides, although center Stephane Yelle came out to chat rinkside with his longtime friend while taping working on his stick.

After practice, head coach Claude Julien had some promising news on the Ference front.

“Right now, the way things are looking, there’s no reason to not think he’s going to start the next series,” the coach said about the blueliner, who hasn’t played since April 4. “I guess from our chats with our trainers, by the beginning of the week he’ll be with our team here.”